Search engines provide a powerful tool for locating documents in a large database of documents, such as the documents on the World Wide Web (WWW) or the documents stored on the computers of an Intranet. The documents are located in response to a search query submitted by a user. A search query may consist of one or more query terms.
In one approach to entering queries, the user enters the query by adding successive query terms until all query terms are entered. Once the user signals that all of the query terms of the search query have been entered, the search query is sent to the search engine. The user may have alternative ways of signaling completion of the search query by, for example, entering a return character, by pressing the enter key on a keyboard or by clicking on a “search” button on a graphical user interface. Once the search query is received by the search engine, it processes the search query, searches for documents responsive to the search query, and returns a list of documents to the user.
Because the original search query is only sent to the search engine when the user signals that the search query is complete, time passes while the user finishes entering or editing the full search query. It would be desirable to have a method and system for quickening this process.